White House Insider’s Secret Speech Intel Nets $107k in Prediction Market Cash Before CFTC Hammer Drops

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has ordered a former White House teleprompter operator to forfeit $107,539.02 in illicit prediction-market profits, delivering a stark warning to insiders trading on non-public information. Gabriel Perez, who exploited his advance access to presidential speeches to place winning bets, now faces a $65,000 fine and a three-year trading ban, with regulators emphasizing that his cooperation substantially reduced the penalty in this civil enforcement action.

How the White House speech insider gained a trading edge

The CFTC found that Perez traded presidential “mention market” contracts between December 2025 and February 2026 while working as a White House teleprompter operator. The event contracts, which the regulator describes as swaps, settled on whether the President would use particular words or phrases during speeches.

Trump aide allegedly made $100K betting on 12 speeches before anyone knew – then Kalshi stepped in

Perez saw the speeches before they were delivered, according to the order. The CFTC said he misappropriated that material nonpublic information in breach of a duty of trust and confidence, converting knowledge of the prepared text into more than $107,500 in profit.

Other traders were pricing the probability that a phrase would be spoken. Perez already had access to text that would help determine the outcome, giving him an information advantage built into the contract’s settlement question.

The CFTC release announces settled charges against Perez and separately says the agency appreciated KalshiEX’s assistance. It does not announce charges against the exchange or say the agency found a surveillance failure.

The Associated Press reported in July that Kalshi enforcement head Robert DeNault said the exchange’s surveillance team “promptly flagged, investigated and referred” the trades to the CFTC. AP noted that his public statement did not name Perez. The CFTC’s final release confirms assistance but does not disclose the detailed timing of Kalshi’s review or referral.

That record reflects two distinct policing roles. A February CFTC advisory says designated contract markets have an independent duty to maintain audit trails, conduct surveillance and enforce rules against prohibited practices. The CFTC retains authority to investigate and prosecute illegal trading and says it coordinates with exchanges on referrals.

The CFTC says prediction markets have an insider trading problem

Kalshi later added controls intended to move some policing ahead of the trade. In June, the exchange announced risk scoring for markets with heightened insider or manipulation risk, employment verification for some participants and expanded whistleblower tools. Those measures came after Perez’s December-to-February trading period, and the available sources do not establish whether they would have blocked his activity.

Kalshi freezes insider accounts as $1.5 billion Super Bowl trading tests market integrity

The settlement shows exchange referral and regulatory enforcement converging after the profits were made: Kalshi was credited with assistance, and the CFTC imposed disgorgement, a penalty and a market ban. It does not, by itself, show that the safeguards were timely or sufficient to prevent the trades.